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The Pack meets at the clinic. The final battle is looming over the horizon, the only question is who will die?
Derek looks at Stiles from across the surgery area and becomes entranced by the way he moves, the way he gives out orders like a leader. It's mesmerizing and saddening all at once.
Stiles was out. He has a cushy normal job- a safe job, at least Derek suspects he does, and yet he still came back to help them fight their battle. As Derek continues to watch Stiles give orders, he distantly remembers a time where evil was fought in the shadows of the preserve.
Now though...
Now there is a war tearing its way through the center of Beacon Hills and no one knows who will live or die, and Derek always makes at least one dumb decision during times of peril, so he waits until the room is empty.
When it's finally just him and Stiles, Derek approaches from the side. Stiles looks up from the map of the town, startled by Derek's sudden looming presence.
His eyes are glimmering like amber in the harsh light of the surgery room, the telltale signs of crows feet at the corners of Stiles' eyes as he smiles at him has Derek's stomach does flips and his heart beats furiously against his ribs and he reaches for the thin cord around his neck and snaps his with ease.
The small titanium band rolls down the thread until it lands in the palm of his other hand, Stiles' smile turns to a look of confusion as Derek grabs his hand and slips the ring onto his finger.
He hears Stiles' heart skip a beat in his chest and meets his eyes the next second.
"Derek what-"
"I didn't want to hold you back," he says quickly, "You deserved a normal life, you still do. As much as it hurt the both of us I knew that was something I could never give you, so I never said anything. But we might die tonight, so I'm making the jump. If we come out the other side together I want to be with you because... I love you, Stiles." he trails off, waiting for Stiles to say something. When he doesn't Derek opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out and it devolves into a staring match with Stiles seemingly peeking directly into his soul.
"I don't want a normal life. I never did," Stiles finally says after a few minutes of them just looking at each other.
"Do you want to know the moment I finally realized that you were it for me?" Stiles asks and Derek doesn't know what to say, but Stiles speaks anyways. "I almost let Scott die. In Mexico," Stiles says, "I don't really think it would have mattered whether I was there or not to be honest, saving Scott was really more Kira's doing than mine. But You were dying too, and I realized in that moment I would give everything for you," Stiles curls in on himself a bit then, like he's trying to protect himself from something, but when nothing comes he just continues speaking, "But you told me to go. So I did, for you. And then after... you lived. And then you left to chase Kate and I didn't say anything because I knew that you needed to go after her."
Derek smiles wryly, looks Stiles in the eye. "To be fair I thought I killed her in Egypt, she just refuses to stay dead."
Stiles looks shocked for a moment, then his hand squeezes around Derek's and he laughs. Deep and loud until he's curling into Derek's chest and resting his forehead against his collarbone. Derek places his other hand in the small of his back, hugging him close, feeling the laughter bubble up in him as well.
"I love you," Derek says again, but this time whispers it into the other man's ear.
Stiles raises his head and smiles at him. "I love you too," he whispers before their lips meet.
"How does it feel having someone fuck with your head!?" Stiles shouts as he takes Kate's face in one hand and bashes the back of her skull into the concrete. "How's it feel you bitch!?" he yells as he lifts her up and throws her to the ground and jumps on top of her.
Kate lashes out like a wild animal, kicking and screaming. She lands a punch across his jaw with one arm as she tries to claw at him from underneath with the other, digging into the gash on his ribs with what fingers she still has left on that hand as he lifts her head and smashes it back down again.
"I'll- I'll fucking kill you!" she screams, "You fucking little knot whore!" she roars as he smashes her head into the concrete again. Kate throws another punch with her free hand, nailing him across the face and Stiles bares his teeth at her and punches her hard enough to break her nose again.
"Fuck you!" he roars as he pins her arms to the side with his knees and punches her in the face until she stops thrashing, "Say it! Say my name!" he roars, "Say. My. Fucking. Name!" he roars again.
Kate chokes on the blood in her mouth, spits in his face and chokes again when he punches her once more. "Fuck you... you and that stupid fucking idiot Hale," she rasps out, "I'll fucking kill you, Stiles Stilinski," She hisses through missing teeth, says his name like a curse and glares at him through the one eye that's not swollen shut like she wants him to drop dead.
Stiles smiles with his teeth, feels a rush of giddiness as a delirious chuckle bubbles in his chest. He leans forward, looks her in the eye. "Burn in hell you fucking cunt!" Stiles spits before grabbing the knife that he lodged in her shoulder earlier and plunges it into her heart like he intended to.
And just like that this goddamn nightmare is over.